Roadblock - press release

AXING ROAD PUBLIC INQUIRIES WILL MEAN MORE DIRECT ACTION

Road Block reacted with anger at rumours [1] that the government is considering shortening public inquiry times, and even scrapping them altogether for some major projects. Road Block says that it is the government that holds up decisions, not objectors at public inquiries. Road Block also predicts that if the public are not given the right to challenge roads schemes at public inquiries, frustrated but normally law abiding citizens could resort to civil disobedience.

Rebecca Lush campaigner for Road Block said:

"Whilst is can often take years for a decision to be made, scapegoating the public for delays is quite obscene. The Inspectors will often take months, and sometimes years, to write their reports, which the government then sits on for years, making the final decision at the most politically convenient time. Public Inquiries are often viewed with cynicism by the public, who see them as rubber stamping exercises, but this is usually the only chance for objectors to put the case against the project. Now we could even see this tiny opportunity disappear. If the public are going to be denied the right to challenge roads through the inquiry process, I am sure that frustration will lead to civil disobedience, as their voices are not being heard. The British do not like being trampled on."

Notes to Editors:

[1] Reported in the Daily Telegraph on 17 October 2005.
Sir Rod Eddington, former head of British Airways, has been appointed to conduct a review of transport and productivity. In interviews he has indicated that he wants to cut delivery time for major projects, and is frustrated at the public inquiry process.
See interview in Transport Times at http://www.transporttimes.co.uk/Interview/

[2] The Scottish Executive are also planning swinging changes to the planning procedures for road schemes with a new Planning White Paper. The White Paper has rejected calls to introduce a right of third party appeals, despite a consultation showing that 86% of people supported this right. The Paper also proposes that there be no public inquiries into schemes of 'national strategic importance'. Road Block argues that these are often the most controversial projects, that need the closest examination.
See http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/press/pr20050617.html

[3] A road public inquiry will often take a fraction of the many years it takes for a road to be approved and built. Even the longest running inquiry in history, into the fifth terminal at Heathrow (four years), still took less than a third of the total time from planning the terminal to opening it. The reason why the inquiry took so long is because the government had no national aviation policy at the time (1995-99) and had to develop it as the inquiry progressed.

[4] Already this year, three major roads projects show the failings of the inquiry and consultation process: